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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27707117">jump in the line</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiden/pseuds/kiden'>kiden</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universes, Fluff, M/M, Original Character(s), Pre-Slash, bad-mouthing Reed Richards</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 14:41:13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,778</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27707117</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiden/pseuds/kiden</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes a spacetime vortex opens up in the middle of the Avengers Compound and your daughter from another reality comes through it. And then you have to deal with that. And the fact Captain America is her father.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Steve Rogers/Tony Stark</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>63</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>jump in the line</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>you know what? idk</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Clint’s already put a two bowl dent in a brand new box of Fruit Loops when she arrives. It’s an overcast Tuesday morning, chilly for the middle of July, and he doesn’t catch the first few things she says. Too distracted by the glowing portal the girl has just stepped through and the fact that it’s closing behind her. And anyway, he doesn’t have his hearing aids in. </p><p>“Say again?”</p><p>The girl smiles, a bit too smug, and says presumably for the second time, “Good morning, Clint.”</p><p>“Oh,” he says, and puts down his spoon. “Hey.” </p><p>“I’m Beth,” she says. “Do you know me?” </p><p>“Can’t say I do, kid.” The girl takes a stray loop off the kitchen table and pops it into her mouth. “You’re not going to kill me now are you? I’m in the middle of breakfast.” </p><p>She laughs, and it’s a pretty thing. Familiar. Her entire body shakes with it. His quiver is on the other side of the room, slung over the arm of the sofa. Completely useless. For some reason he still believes the compound is always safe. It’s stupid, really. He knows better. </p><p>But she doesn’t <em> look </em>evil. She’s just a kid.</p><p>“No,” she says, and <em> signs </em>, “don’t be stupid.” </p><p>Her eyes are big and blue, her hair the color of winter wheat, and when she smiles it’s as warm as sunshine. When she turns to look around the compound, Clint catches the Avengers’ <em> A </em>on the sleeve of her bomber jacket. It’s hard, he thinks, to keep track of all the youngsters these days. Maybe that’s why she looks familiar. </p><p>But still, he’s also thinking of the hundred and forty-two ways he knows how to subdue someone, without using his weapon. </p><p>“Don’t even think about it,” she admonishes kindly. She says, sitting down and sliding over his half-eaten bowl of cereal and taking up the spoon, “My name is Elizabeth Rogers. Is my dad around?” </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Sometimes a hole opens up in the universe or two universes bump into each other or Reed Richards accidentally, <em> absolutely on purpose </em> , pushes Tony face-first into a vortex. These things happen. Tony knows that better than anyone. Sometimes he meets a <em> Miles Morales </em>, and sleeps a little better for a few nights. Other times he meets an evil Hydra Captain America, and doesn’t.</p><p>Sometimes JARVIS might tell him about another him, and a Steve, and a man named Scott he won’t meet for a few more years, creeping around in the shadows and messing up the timeline behind their backs. Occasionally he has to live with these things. It’s just how it goes.  It’s usually not fun while it lasts but it’s <em> funny </em> when it’s over, for the most part, and then life goes on. </p><p>Until a blonde teenager with Maria Stark’s big blue eyes - Tony’s eyes - says, “No, I told you. You’re my <em>mother.” </em></p><p>She says, “Look, I’m just trying to get home. I need to see Reed, or Strange, or <em> both. </em> I hate alternate realities. They’re the <em> worst. </em>And you’re not even listening to me. You never do.” </p><p>“Shut up?” Tony says, and then again, “Shut up and sit. Sit down. Be quiet and sit down and stay very still and shut up.”</p><p>“<em> Tony,” </em> Steve says, in a voice that Tony hates the most but still makes his skin tingle pleasantly. That fond, exasperated, warning of a way that sounds like, <em> you’re my friend, I enjoy your company, but I’m going to forcibly remove you from the room. </em>“Be nice.” </p><p>Elizabeth Rogers smiles at Steve, and she’s got <em> braces. </em>With red and gold colored bands. </p><p>He’s not a <em> sexist. </em> Not anymore, anyway, he’s still a work-in-progress. It doesn’t bother him that in this girl’s universe he’s a woman. That’s not the issue, no matter how many judgmental looks he’s getting from Steve, and Bruce, and Nat, and literally everyone. It’s just, for some outrageously incomprehensible reason, he not only mothered a child with Captain America but <em> married him.  </em></p><p>“I just want to go home,” she says again. Curls in on herself too small, too vulnerable, too much like him that Tony has to look away. Those long nights alone in his room, at boarding school, at MIT, still feel fresh in his mind when he looks at her. </p><p>Something aches in his chest.  She’s got Steve’s hair and smile and nose, but she’s painfully Tony inside. And he can’t help but wonder how badly he must have fucked up to allow that. </p><p>Nat brings her a cup of coffee and slides onto the stool next to her.  She’s got her<em> I’m here to help </em>face on, which means she’s in light interrogation mode. It doesn’t escape Tony’s attention that Steve takes a step closer, almost shoving between them, as if his instinct is to protect the girl.</p><p>The ache in Tony feels turns into pain. It circles around the RT in his chest. Settles slightly to the left, sharp as a knife. </p><p>The girl says in the last universe her parents were dead. Nat was dead. She says Reed Richards had never even been to space. But she found Pete, and he took her for cheeseburgers at a little hole-in-the-wall downtown. She says he cried when she told him who she is.</p><p>“JARVIS, get Strange over here,” Tony says, turning the device she’s been using to reality jump over and over in his hand. “And Richards, I guess. If we really have to.” </p><p>“Right away, sir.” </p><p>It about the size of a flash drive, with a few tiny, white and blue buttons down the side of it.  At the base is a stylized <em> 4.  </em>When she reaches out for the coffee Nat offers, she’s wearing a matching bracelet around her thin wrist. White and blue. On the other wrist she wears a blue and gold watch. </p><p>“Hey, kid,” he says and she turns to him. Those big blue eyes so tired and scared that Tony’s bones feel heavy. </p><p>“<em> Elizabeth </em>,” he corrects. “Elizabeth, look, I’m going to get you home. Frankly, the fact that you exist is really screwing with me, so the sooner I can get you out of here the better.”</p><p>There’s a dangerous trembling in Elizabeth’s bottom lip that she tries, and fails, to bite away. And when she puts down the coffee Tony knows what’s going to happen, but has no power to stop it. He’s not even sure he <em> would </em>. </p><p>The girl throws herself at him, her strong arms winding up around his neck, and she buries her face against his chest and sighs.  It’s instinct that Tony puts his arms around her too, holds her close and tightly, but soft, so fucking soft and careful, the way he always thought a parent <em> should </em> be. Maybe there is something in his genes that knows she’s his, or some reverberation across realities, <em> something. </em> But he’d do anything for her. <em> Anything </em>at all to keep her happy and safe. </p><p>Muffled into his shirt, she says, “<em> Thanks mom. </em>You’re the first one I believe.” </p><p>Tony closes his eyes and tries to breathe and pretends he doesn’t feel the way Steve’s eyes are burning into him. </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Four jumps ago Reed Richards gave her the device to control when and where it happens. It’s basically just a stabilization unit. A <em>harness. </em>And maybe that Reed could have even gotten her home if she’d stuck around long enough to find out. </p><p>“He’s so annoying,” Elizabeth says. “I couldn’t stand it. I’d rather jump into a spacetime vortex than listen to him.”</p><p>“Well, she’s definitely yours,” Nat says dryly. Tony shoots her a look, but he’s sort of proud all the same. </p><p>Tony listens with both ears, even as he works, to the conversation Elizabeth and Nat are having. Strange is off in the corner doing his thing - whatever the hell that is - scanning her and scanning the multiverse and trying to find the place where she belongs. Or something. The room is silent but for their talking. It’s not like Tony is eavesdropping. </p><p>He has, however, made sure JARVIS is recording every word. </p><p>Tony snaps his fingers until they both look over, and keeps snapping, <em> with emphasis, </em>until Elizabeth sighs. </p><p>“Let’s see it. Hand it to you mother,” he says, and deftly catches the watch when Elizabeth tosses it over. “God, look at this thing. JARVIS, look at this thing.” </p><p>It’s very similar to his own tech, by style at least, but it’s years beyond where he’s at. It’s nanotechnology - absolutely stunning, delicate, <em> intricate. </em>Blue and golden, with little hints of red along the repulsor. The blast he aims at the far wall burns right into Bruce’s lab. It’s stronger than anything he’s ever built. </p><p>Bruce peaks in through the new opening, looking disgruntled, then disappears.</p><p>“You have a suit?” </p><p>Elizabeth nods. </p><p>“Anything from him?” </p><p>“Some strength. Good memory,” she says with a shrug. “And I’m a quick healer.” </p><p>Tony hums and Elizabeth turns back to Nat. When the scans JARVIS takes of the gauntlet pop up on screen, Tony turns his full attention to them, and blocks out whatever the girls are saying. There’s something deeply unsettling about all of this, and he’s only now starting to realize what it is. </p><p>Elizabeth Rogers is nineteen. Maybe in her early twenties. The Stark tech she’s got is <em> maybe </em> two years away from where Tony is now. By her own account, the time variables from universe to universes are within three years of where she started. </p><p>Which means, in her universe, they’ve been together for <em> years. </em>Since before this universe’s Captain America came out of the ice. Her parents have been together for over two decades; working together, loving each other, saving the world, and starting a family. </p><p>Tony and Steve are friends. Good friends most days. And Tony’s not turning his nose down at that. His friendship with Steve is one of the most important - maybe The Most Important - in his life. But the torch he’s been carrying for a while now has been feeling a lot heavier since <em> their child </em>stepped out of a spacetime vortex. </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>“So, my point is -“</p><p>“You have a <em> point?” </em>Natasha interrupts, slapping Tony in the side of the head with her gloved hand. “JARVIS, note the day.” </p><p>JARVIS has the uncommon decency not to answer. </p><p>“It’s because I’m not a woman,” Tony continues. He ducks her next hit, tries to come up with his own punch and gets knocked down on his ass. “Or feminine presenting, I guess? Hm.” </p><p>Natasha levels him with a long, unhappy, and frankly unnecessary glare, but helps him back to his feet.  As she takes off her gloves and unwraps her knuckles, she says, “I know you’re intelligent, but you’re such a dumbass when your little feelings are hurt.” </p><p>“Why do I even talk to you?” Tony asks. “I’m suffering. You don’t care. Look at you not caring.” </p><p>“Am I your emotional support assassin spy?” Natasha wonders aloud, but it doesn’t seem particularly directed towards him. “I don’t remember seeing that in my job description.”</p><p>Before she leaves the gym, she says, “If you have something on your mind, talk to Steve. Stop being a baby.”</p><p>It’s three am and Tony is tired.  He knows he won’t sleep.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Strange comes out of his weird and annoying magical suptor by the next morning.  As always he’s vaguely condescending and blatantly a pain in the ass about the fact he’s solved all their problems. Once again. With his weird and annoying hot yoga ancient new-age bullshit.</p><p>Elizabeth is sitting next to Steve at the kitchen table, and it’s only been twenty-seven hours, but there is an easy familiarity between them that sparks something unpleasant inside Tony. It’s jealousy, but not really. It’s frustration, but not completely. He finds himself wishing his emotional support spy assassin would just, you know, be supportive for once, when he needs it and not only aggressively when he doesn’t want it.</p><p>“It was a spell,” Strange says, just floating there by the refrigerator. Just because he’s absolutely unbearable. “A very complicated one. There were signs I have engaged with it previously. I’m assuming you’ve spoken to me before about this?” </p><p>There’s a long silence, before the girl says, “You cast it.” Then quickly, “It’s complicated. Everything is always complicated, right?  It’s not a big deal. Things get... “ </p><p>“Complicated, sometimes,” Steve says. He rests a hand on her shoulder and squeezes. “It’s okay. Can we get her back?” </p><p>“Yes,” Strange says, and if pressed, Tony would say he looks shaken. “Of course. Yes. With some help from Tony and a few adjustments to the device Reed Richards has given you, I believe I can clear a path for you back to your own reality. Perhaps Miss Maximoff can lend a hand as well?” </p><p>“Don’t see why not,” Nat says, digging her phone out of some secret, discreet pocket Tony doesn’t remember designing into her suit. “Everyone loves a little recreational reality bending.”</p><p>“Thank you, everyone,” Elizabeth says, in a top notch Captain America voice. “There’s so much - I’ve been lost for a while. Thank you for helping me get home. I know you aren’t <em> my </em> family, that you don’t know me, but -” </p><p>“We are,” Steve says, wrapping an arm around her in a warm, half-hug. “We’re close enough. And we’re glad to help.”  </p><p>There’s a beat - a heavy, uncomfortable silence - and Steve’s eyes are burning into Tony again, but the look on his face is unreadable.  </p><p>“Let’s get to work,” Tony says, and claps his hands together. </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>The reworking of Reed’s device is easy.  It’s mostly just honing it’s capabilities and giving it a little kick. Most of the big stuff is done by Strange and Wanda, spells and reality adjustments that Tony doesn’t want anything to do with, because he deeply, deeply hates it all.  But he trusts them, so he doesn’t bother worrying much about it. Not too much, anyway. </p><p>The thing is, Tony doesn’t know how to say goodbye to his not-daughter.  They didn’t have a lot of time together, and that’s only his own fault. That tends to be the result when actively avoiding a person.  But he watches from across the room as she says goodbye to the rest of them. Comfortable. Familiar. It’s like watching a kid leave after coming home for the holidays. </p><p>He can’t hear what Steve says to her, or what she says to him, but the look in his eyes is so soft, so affectionate, that Tony thinks he could drown in it. Even from twenty feet away.  Steve brushes a stray bit of hair behind her ear.  He gathers her close for a hug, and kisses her forehead, and it stirs everything in his gut Tony has been trying, and failing, to ignore. </p><p>When she finally comes to him, Tony secures the watch back around her wrist with steady, absolutely not shaking fingers. </p><p>“Take care of yourself,” he says. “Take care of your dad, huh? And give your mother a break. She’s a pain in the ass, but I promise, she’s trying.” </p><p>Elizabeth smiles.  It’s a little sad, a lot understanding, and it makes Tony flush hot across his cheeks and the back of his neck. </p><p>And then Elizabeth Rogers hugs him again. Presses close so that no one else can hear, she says, “You’re not always romantically involved. I’ve met; well, a <em> lot of you. </em> So many different versions. You’re not always <em> in love. </em>But you always find each other.  Always together. I love knowing that.” </p><p>She pulls away and Tony takes her face in his hands, just to look at her.  The perfect mix of him and Steve, smart as a whip, brave and strong and kind.  It’s easy to imagine how much her mother loves her; Tony can feel its warmth inside him.  It’s beautiful, and it aches.</p><p>“My parents are a <em> constant. </em>You should know that.” </p><p>Elizabeth Rogers is gone just as fast as she arrived and Tony finds a hole inside him that hadn’t been there three days ago. </p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Clint doesn’t make a habit out of listening to other people’s conversations. At least not at the compound. Their business isn’t his, and if experience has taught him anything it’s that the less he knows about their interpersonal drama the better he fairs.  It’s why, most  the time, he leaves out his hearing aids when he’s home. </p><p>But he <em> sees </em>everything. All the time. </p><p>Whatever Tony and Steve are doing, he hopes it works out. Hopes it’s as good of an idea as it seems. As that kid had promised it would be. </p><p>He thinks they got a pretty good shot, and he’s sort of an expert.<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>should there be more? shout out in the comments if there should be more. don’t forget to smash that like button. thanks to nord vpn for sponsoring</p></blockquote></div></div>
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